CRADA
What is a CRADA?
A Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) is a formal agreement of limited duration and scope between Berkeley Lab and your company. It is the primary mechanism for Cyclotron Road fellows to collaborate with Berkeley Lab to access research facilities and Berkeley Lab expertise. It's the agreement that protects your Intellectual Property (IP) and defines the rules of engagement if you use existing Lab IP or develop new IP in collaboration with the Lab over the course of your fellowship. Note also that once it takes effect, it grants you greater IP protections and supersedes the terms of the Affiliate agreement.
The expenses for the CRADA work, such as staff time or materials, will be initially supported by your $100,000 in research funding provided through Cyclotron Road. If you obtain additional funding, you may also add extra funding to the CRADA to support additional collaborative research at Berkeley Lab.
Setting Up Your CRADA
The bulk of the CRADA, including the budget, has been standardized and is non-negotiable (Sample CRADA Document). It has been pre-negotiated to be startup-friendly and to accelerate the execution timeline. The CRADA pieces you need to complete are:
Annex A: Statement of work – Specifies the scope of work covered under the agreement.
Annex C: Background Intellectual Property (IP) – Specifies background IP related to the scope of work.
See BIP Template
Annex C: IP Management Plan – Ensures that you have legal access to IP needed to perform and commercialize research. Choose the "Yes IP" if you have background IP, "No IP" if not.
Your Berkeley Lab collaborator will also review these documents to ensure that there is no conflict with their expectations or other obligations.
CRADA Terms
The terms of the CRADA have been pre-negotiated by Cyclotron Road, and will be the same for each company in the program. The terms related to IP and manufacturing are summarized below. Always rely on the language in the contract to resolve any questions. The terms of the CRADA apply to all work you do under the CRADA scope, regardless of funding source.
Intellectual Property:
IP generated by you under the CRADA will remain yours
IP generated by a Lab employee (or any person's effort funded via Berkeley Lab money) will belong to the Lab
IP generated jointly will be considered joint IP
You will have the right to negotiate a 6-month, no cost exclusive license for any joint IP or Lab-owned IP developed as a part of the work in a pre-negotiated field of use
U.S. Manufacturing Provisions:
Products embodying or produced through the use of any IP developed under the CRADA and sold in the U.S. must be “substantially manufactured” in the U.S. (This clause is standard for government grants, ex. ARPA-e recipients).
Can be waived if the requirement prohibits competitiveness
Other Berkeley Lab Agreements
User Facility Agreement
A User Agreement is only appropriate for work done at a User facility, e.g. the Molecular Foundry or Advanced Light Source, with an approved user project. Cyclotron Road fellows often work at the Molecular Foundry under a Non-Proprietary User Agreement (see details here) where access is free of charge.
Cyclotron Road participants who wish to access a User Facility must execute a User Agreement for the work carried out at the facility. The scope of work may be the same or unique from the CRADA scope, depending on the terms you wish to apply to the work.
Your CRADA agreement may be used to collaborate with the User facilities so long as you have an approved User proposal/project. The next deadline for the Molecular Foundry is March 31st.
There are two key differences from the CRADA:
No U.S. manufacturing provision.
No option to license Berkeley Lab owned IP or IP generated jointly.
You should not conduct work onsite, with collaborators, or using CRADA/User Agreement funding that falls outside of the scope(s) of these agreement(s). If you do, such work and any IP generated would fall under the default Berkeley Lab Affiliate Agreement (see below) and Berkeley Lab will then own the IP as a result.
Berkeley Lab Affiliate Agreement
Berkeley Lab allows non-Berkeley Lab employees to engage in Berkeley Lab activities, such as research, on- or off-site. You will sign this agreement as part of your onboarding process with the Berkeley Lab affiliate office and the Affiliate Agreement dictates the terms of your engagement with the Lab. Your affiliate status will be for one year and then extended for the second year.
Important note: under the Affiliate Agreement, any IP generated is owned by the Lab, but if work falls under another agreement with Berkeley Lab (such as a CRADA), the terms of that contract supersede the Affiliate Agreement. You will not be able to do any work you regard as IP sensitive at the Lab until your CRADA has been approved.
CRADA Guide: Closing Out
When you are approaching the end of your project term, there are a number of actions needed to close out your CRADA and prepare for your team's exit from Cyclotron Road. Please consult the following background memo that details what is required for various exit plans as well as the close-out reference guide that has specific instructions with links to useful resources. You should begin planning certain elements of your transition at least 6 months before the end of your CRADA. If you have specific questions, contact Melanie Sonsteng.